I use a powdered sugar sifter to remove fines from my ground coffee for french-press and vac pot. It makes for nearly sludge-free french-press, and keeps the vac pot glass filter from plugging up. There's various fine-mesh sifters out there, but this is the one I use: http://www.pastrychef.com/BAKERY-SIFTERS_p_909.html

$0.20 each! What a rip off! Much better off buying an Espro press, which is used like a regular French press, is also virtually silt free, costs slightly more than a year's worth (daily use) of those paper filters, and is built to last for many years...and it's got a double wall for better heat retention.

.Always remember the most important thing is what ends up in your cup!

I check my grinder, from time to time, to know that the 'fines' are less than 5%. I do that visually, grounds spread out on white paper with a 10-power glass, but also by passing the brewed coffee through a filter, drying it, and weighing the filtrate.

I make most of my coffee with an Aeropress with the original Coava metal filter, with 300 micron holes. That filters less well and I have a bit of mud at the bottom of each cup. But …I don't have to drink it …?!

Also, with my BraZen brewer, with the gold filter, I get similar mud, left over at the bottom of the urn.

What this note is really about is the 'micro-mud' which I believe to be in the 5 to 10 micron range, which does NOT settle out but remains in suspension in the brewed coffee. I am of the opinion that this micro-mud adds a creamy character to the cup, mostly in 'mouth-feel'. I prefer not to use paper filters that would remove it.

I do not disagree with the experts (…and I am not one) when they say that fines over-extract and provide a bitter, unpleasant flavour to the cup. But a small amount of fines can add an interesting component to the cup.

You could also buy a sieve, which some people have been experimenting with, to remove fines below a certain threshold. I have a 250 micron sieve that I mess around with now and then, but brewing with fines removed requires a lot of modification of your process.

The 'micro-mud' I think is one of the things I enjoy about french press. The powdered-sugar sifter I'm using I think is 500 micron (0.5mm mesh size), so probably a little too big, but it does a great job of getting the dust out of the ground coffee.With some experimentation, I added a bit more to my quantity ground, and added a minute to my brew time. The result is excellent sludge-free french press. It still has plenty of the 'micro-mud' in suspension though, as mentioned by JKalpin.

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